


Yami's Cloak

by lalunaunita



Category: Black Clover - Tabata Yuki (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Gen, Potty Humor, Vanessa fixes Yami's cloak, and it's my first Black Clover fic!, i forgot to mention the potty humor for Part IV, no beta we die like men, shenanigans ensue, silly and sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-14
Updated: 2020-11-15
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:28:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27551569
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lalunaunita/pseuds/lalunaunita
Summary: Vanessa fixes Yami's cloak on a whim, and suddenly life is different. Yami can't quite figure out what's going on.
Relationships: Vanessa Enoteca & Yami Sukehiro
Comments: 4
Kudos: 30





	1. Part I

Vanessa sighed, feeling the night breeze skate along her stomach and ribs. Her head was almost spinning, but she wasn’t quite as drunk as she wanted to get before bed. She leaned back and let her legs dangle over the edge of the Hideout’s roof. Nothing like sitting in the moonlight in your underwear. No, really. She’d wanted to prove it, but Noelle put on a funny face when Vanessa suggested going up together and Charmy simply turned back to her food.

She yawned and tilted her wine bottle up at the moon, squinting through the glass. Yep, that would just about get her there. 

She stiffened as her peripheral vision picked up a figure next to her, so motionless and silent she hadn’t noticed their arrival. Wide-eyed, she turned. It was Captain Yami. How long had he been there? She wondered she hadn’t smelled the smoke from the little ember that dangled from his lips, but then she noticed the wind taking it the other way. Ah, how considerate. That was just like her captain. He was nice in all the subtle ways. Very subtle ways.

Vanessa tried to say, “Captain! Have you come to enjoy the delights of moonbathing with me?” but all she managed was, “Moon’sup, take yer closh off.”

Yami considered her as he took a drag off the shrinking cigarette. The ember brightened, catching Vanessa’s gaze like a candle in darkness. 

“Getting naked’s not really my thing. I bet you could ask Finral, or that guy with the laugh, I can never remember his name… Ba-hah or something.”

“He’s not here, and he’s gross. We both know Finral’s all talk,” came across as a low, emphatic burp, but Vanessa felt sure she’d made her point. She swiped the idea away with one hand, nearly overbalancing off the roof edge.

Yami grabbed the back of her cloak and steadied her. Pssh, she could fall off a roof and be fine, he should know that. She leaned back anyway for another faceful of moonlight and he relaxed his grip.

Vanessa tilted her head in Yami’s direction to say something, but lost her train of thought as her face came level with his bicep. Hmmph. _His_ cloak was a disgrace. If it was going to cover up the view of his herculean physique, the least it could do was look nice over his bulging muscles.

“Captain, I’d like to mend your cloak,” she said, but it came out more like, “Cap’n lemme fishat furroo.”

“Don’t bother,” Yami rumbled.

Vanessa wiggled a finger as she stifled a yawn, pretending not to hear.

A shining pink thread, nearly invisible, snaked around the Captain’s shoulders. It lifted his tattered uniform robe. Without so much as a whisper, the cloak’s ragged, threadbare edges filled out and mended. The fastener strap, barely long enough to secure the robe around Yami’s torso, thickened like a broadening stream until it flowed together with the rest of the short cloak’s fabric. A black hood spilled out from the back. The entirety of the double-wide cloak trimmed itself out in gold satin as the finishing touch.

Yami looked down at himself and sighed. “I said, don’t bother. But thanks, I guess.”

He looked over at Vanessa, who was snoring while sitting up. He smiled, shaking his head. The two of them were going to talk at some point, but not tonight apparently.

“C’mon, girl,” he muttered, lifting her over his shoulder. “Let’s get you to bed.”


	2. Part II

Yami took a drag off his cigarette as he read the morning paper’s headlines. His ears perked at silence. The Hideout was quiet this morning… a little too quiet, now that he noticed it. Maybe Luck was planning a sneak attack. Or maybe Charmy decided on breakfast in bed; that would make the volume levels drop. None of that should be able to shut Asta up, though. Come to think of it, where was that little shit?

Yami peered suspiciously over the top of his paper, only to see the entire Black Bulls brigade silently lined up at attention in front of him. Startled, he clutched the thin newsprint so hard it ripped and fell to his lap.

“It’s nine o’clock, Sir! Black Bulls reporting for duty, Sir!” bawled Magna.

“Let me get you a new paper, Sir,” Finral added, slipping a hand through a small spatial portal.

A moment later, a fresh newspaper dropped into Yami’s lap.

_What the hell is going on here?_ he thought. Were they possessed? Gauche’s nose was dry, Gordon looked less creepy, and even Grey had her hands away from her face. Asta at least looked like it was nearly killing him to keep his mouth shut. Even so, he stood up straight, eyes forward, just like the rest of them.

“Uh… at...ease?”

As a group, they relaxed posture and laced arms behind their backs, but they didn’t leave. Each face wore an expression of quiet interest. Yami felt eyes upon eyes upon him. He didn’t like it.

“Dammit, you’ve got the day off. Scatter. Git. Dismissed!”

At the last word, a mad scramble started and the Bulls assumed their normal attitudes again. Yami breathed a sigh of relief as shouts and laughter rose up in the room.

He growled when someone slid into the seat next to him, but it was only Vanessa. She looked less hungover than she usually did. The relatively early night had done her good. Yami pretended not to notice as she looked him up and down with pursed lips.

“Did you change your hair, Captain?” she asked thoughtfully.

“What? No,” replied Yami. He turned back to his paper.

“It’s definitely different,” Vanessa insisted. “Gauche, bring a mirror over here.”

Gauche grumbled insolently as he joined them at the couch. He produced a mirror which hung in the air before Yami. Startled for the second time, Yami could see the normally unruly ends of his uncut locks had moved en masse toward his scalp. The whole of it looked combed, but he hadn’t touched it. He put an unbelieving hand to his hair and mussed it back up. It stayed for a second, then dropped down and went back to behaving. _Maybe_ I’m _possessed?_ he wondered, disturbed.

“It doesn’t have as much natural body as usual, but it looks pretty good. I think the new style suits you.” Vanessa cheerfully took a bite of something Charmy handed her as Yami seethed.

“I didn’t do anything!” he hollered. “Let me read my paper!”

“Okay, okay, sheesh.”

“On second thought, Asta! Get over here!” Yami yelled.

“Sir, yes sir!” Asta motored over from the corner where he’d been doing one-handed pushups.

Yami scrubbed one cheek with the back of his knuckles. “Get out that magic-breaking sword and touch my hair with it. I think someone hexed me.”

Asta frowned, but did as he was told. All eyes were upon the mirror as a soft touch from the sword’s hilt failed to make any change. 

Yami sighed. “Shit. And I have to go to the Capital today.”


	3. Part III

“Finral, let’s go.”

Yami glared at his subordinate in expectation of complaint, but Finral simply stood, nodded, and opened a portal to the Capital.

“You’re coming with me.”

Another nod.

“You have to bring me lunch.”

“Yes, Captain.”

Okay, this was getting intolerable.

“And pick up some toilet paper at the market while you’re at it. A lot of toilet paper.”

Finral’s mild expression didn’t change as he nodded once more. Yami gave up with a shrug.

“Alright then...we’re going.”

Vanessa watched the two men step through the glowing portal and found she couldn’t help herself. With the cloak...the new hair...Yami needed one more thing. Her thread magic connected just before Yami’s back completely disappeared.

As their boots touched down on the cobblestones of the Capital, Yami and Finral both looked at Yami’s arms in surprise. Was he wearing sleeves? Yami felt at his arms and ribs. This shirt had buttons. He hated buttons. It had a collar. He hated collars. Yami gripped two fistfulls of fabric and pulled. The shirt shredded instantly, revealing his familiar A-cut undershirt beneath. Yami nodded, satisfied.

The softly fluttering shreds glowed, rose, and arrayed themselves around Yami. Then they attacked. Yami felt uncommonly like a sausage being shoved into a casing. The collar throttled him as it attempted to button itself around his thick neck. Face reddening, Yami yanked at the shirt again. It came apart easily, but the telltale glow of magic brightened and the pieces once again came together. Three more tries produced the same result.

 _Damn, that is some persistent magic,_ Yami thought, chest heaving as the shirt slithered over his torso and recreated its seams and folds.

He turned to Finral and threw up his hands, despairing. “I’m already late. I can’t believe she did this to me.”

Finral, dumbfounded, nodded in agreement.

Yami ducked his head and muttered, “Alright, shirt, I’ll compromise. You can’t button all the buttons; I’m dying here.”

The shirt released the two top buttons and Yami breathed in deeply. But it slipped neatly into the waistband of his pants - a counter offer. Yami accepted the bargain.

“See ya in three hours,” he growled, not looking back to see if Finral heard him.

The Capital felt unusually peaceful today as Yami made tracks to the castle. It irked him. People stared at him - they always did - but the ki was different. Something was missing. He’d gone three blocks before he realized their gazes held no fear. He’d always assumed their fear and stress had to do with the dangers to the kingdom. It never occurred to him that being in the presence of “the Foreigner” and the leader of the worst Magic Knights Squad caused such a strong reaction. Yami’s scowl deepened and he felt a ripple of fright in the ki around him. Good, they should be afraid. He had a hair hex and a homicidal shirt. It was not a good day to cross him.

Somehow, Yami made it into the Conference Room ahead of Jack, Rill, Fuegoleon and whoever the latest Purple Orca captain was. He stared Silva down as he took his usual seat next to Charlotte. Her ki was off, too. He didn’t know what to make of that, so he crossed his arms and fumed. Feeling confused always made him angry. Vangeance wore a half smile and Yami lifted his chin in acknowledgement of the other Captain.

With the entrance of the remaining Captains, their meeting was underway. As usual, William led the discussion, which centered around recent skirmishes at the border of the Diamond Kingdom.

“...our scouts found several ways through the border, which is disturbing,” William informed them. “It hasn’t been secure, and it’s likely the Diamond scouts noticed it, too. We can shore up the weakest points with increased patrols, but we need to conserve strength for domestic issues as well.”

“Trap magic,” Yami interjected.

“What’s that?” asked Fuegoleon.

Yami uncrossed his arms and leaned his chair back on two legs. “Set trap magic alerts, like a picket fence across the border. They don’t have to be actual traps, we just need them to trip in time to warn the nearest patrol - and preferably, a team of reinforcements back here at the Capital.”

Yami steeled himself for ridicule and doubt. Nozel, and the others too, always shot his suggestions down the moment they left his mouth. The only time they listened was on the battlefield, in the heat of the moment, when their own plans had failed and they were out of options.

He was shocked to see heads nodding all around the table.

“Good idea, Yami,” William replied. “I’ll tell the Wizard King and we’ll move on this immediately. You have a member who’s good with traps, don’t you? He could collaborate.”

A fleeting feeling of belonging washed over Yami, confused him, and pissed him off all over again. He refolded his arms and shrugged.

“Do what you want.”

\----

Charlotte walked next to Yami as they left the Conference Room, her normally porcelain complexion a vivid pink.

“Are you sick or something? You’ve been red for like, an hour,” asked Yami.

“I’m fine,” Charlotte muttered, looking off to one side. “Did you change your hair?”

Yami sighed gustily. “It’s hexed. I guess I’m going to have to figure out some kind of cure. Who the hell hexes a man’s hair?”

Charlotte glanced up at him and smiled. A tiny dimple Yami had never noticed before appeared in one cheek.

“It doesn’t look that bad. Maybe you can keep it if it doesn’t get worse.”

Her ki completely mellowed in that moment. Oddly, it was exactly the same as when they fought the Kingdom’s enemies. Yami stared into her pretty blue eyes, momentarily lost.

“If you say so, Prickly Queen.”

Charlotte’s expression stiffened. Her ki snapped back into the familiar feel he associated with Charlotte Roselei. She quickened her pace and swept past him into the street.

“Until the next time, Yami Sukehiro.”


	4. Part IV

Vanessa roused from her late-morning lie down when Finral flopped onto the old leather couch next to her.

‘C’mere,” she ordered, pointing to the seat underneath her head. Finral scooted over and Vanessa laid her head on his lap, punching one leg like a pillow.

“Hey - ow! Cut it out!” he complained.

Vanessa gave the leg an apologetic pat. “Sorry, Finral. Oh, hey, where’s Yami?”

“He uh, had business to attend to, so he had me port him directly into the bathroom.” Finral wrinkled his nose.

Vanessa closed her eyes. “Say no more. Play with my hair.”

Her relaxation was disturbed by a resounding bellow from deep within the hideout. It sounded vaguely like her name.

“I forgot, Yami wants you to get rid of that shirt,” said Finral as his awkward fingers pulled through Vanessa’s locks.

“Pfft,” she chuckled, waving a hand in the general direction of the shout.

A sparkle of thread magic wove through the air and she knew it had released the spell.

Vanessa opened one eye and looked up at Finral. “So how did things go in the Capital?”

“Weird. I think something’s wrong with the Captain, but I can’t put my finger on it. I mean, he’s always serious - except when he’s not… y’know?”

Finral’s brow made the cute little wrinkle he got when he tried to think hard. Vanessa opened her other eye and regarded him soberly.

“Don’t try to understand Captain Yami. It’s a wasted effort, believe me.” She sat up and rested her arms behind her head. “You can trust he always has our best interests at heart.”

“I do, I do. It’s just…” before Final could say anymore, a loud roar shook the entire Hideout.

“We’re under attack!” Magna shouted, dropping the hand of cards he held.

Luck and Gauche stood with him, focused on the shuddering walls and windows. Bottles rattled, dishes smashed to the floor, chairs fell over, and the very stones beneath their feet felt loose. Vanessa, Finral, Luck, Magna and Gauche drew closer together, quickly joined by those running in from the rest of the house. The Black Bulls stood back-to-back in the center of the large room, fists clenched, ready for anything.

\---

Yami sat with his hands pressed together, concentrating. He grimaced hard enough to bite his tiny cigarette butt in two. He spit out the short end and went back to his deep thoughts. Something was different today.

 _I go to war once more, but this time my opponent bows with respect and flees the battlefield_ , he thought. _It’s time to press the attack!!_

With a mighty yell, Yami parted his hands and pressed his palms against the walls of the bathroom stall. He tensed his muscles in anticipation of victory.

 _C’mon, Yami, surpass your limits—right here, right now!_ He told himself, gritting his teeth.

\---

The shaking and shouts reverberating around the Black Bulls’ Hideout produced no enemies. No one burst in through the front door. No opponents were visible through the windows. The Black Bulls looked at each other in confusion.

“Should we go look for it?” Asta asked, sword held high in his sinewy arms.

“Maybe one of the magical beasts escaped,” suggested Noelle.

“No, they can’t! They’ll tear up my garden, la!” Charmy shouted.

She ran for the door, but Gauche caught her around the waist.

“Don’t be hasty! This could be a trick to lure us out,” he warned.

Charmy’s little legs stopped squirming as an explosion from the interior rocked the building. Smoke poured out of the hallway that led to the back rooms of the Hideout.

“They’re already inside!” screeched Magna.

Twin fireballs erupted in his hands and Luck’s electric armor sizzled to life.

“Whoever it is, they’ve got a lot of mana,” Luck said.

Heavy footsteps echoed. The team waited cautiously. An obscured figure wandered slowly through the smoke.

“Who-” asked Gordon, squinting.

Grey’s hands flew to her cheeks.

“Captain!” she shouted.

Yami sauntered out into the main room, hand pressed to his belly and a satisfied look on his face. He quirked an eyebrow at the gathered Bulls.

“What are you idiots doing? Is there a fight somewhere?”

Nero crossed her arms. “I don’t know, Captain. You tell us.”

Yami smiled.

“Not anymore,” he answered, patting his stomach.

The crew collectively wrinkled their noses, but wisely made no comments. Everyone relaxed and powered down, wandering back to their activities. Barring the lingering smoke and destroyed dishes, it was like nothing had happened.

Vanessa frowned and put a finger to her cheek. “Oh, Captain...your cloak’s in tatters again. Let me.”

“ _Don’t_ ,” Yami replied, holding up one hand. “Don’t you dare.”

“Your hair’s back to normal, too.”

“Good. Don’t touch it.”

“But Captain...you looked so…” Vanessa couldn’t quite finish her sentence as he drilled her with a hard stare.

“Looked so what? Respectable? Vanessa, I learned something today.” Yami lit a match and held it to the end of his cigarette.

Not sure if she wanted to hear, Vanessa snuck glances left and right, but there was nowhere to hide. She put on an expression of polite interest and clutched her arms around her waist. _Please, please, I don’t want to know what he learned about the bathroom_ , she thought. But Yami’s eyes had a faraway look as he blew out a puff of smoke.

“You fixed my cloak and suddenly everyone respected me. The Black Bulls respected me, the people of the Capital respected me, the other Magic Knight Captains respected me, hell, even my own body respected me.

“But I don’t want respect based on my looks. Anyone can have that. I could have had that a long time ago. I want respect for my accomplishments. Anything else is just hypocrisy. I expect you— all the Black Bulls— to pass your limits, to gain accomplishment and merit. It’s what I demand of myself. If no one will respect me for that, then the man I am now exposes their bias, their ignorance, and their unworthiness.

“Vanessa, not everyone is worthy of being a Black Bull. Remember that.” Yami grabbed the leg of one chair, righted it, and snapped up a newspaper. He sat and read and said nothing more.

Vanessa stood for a moment in thought. Then she smiled. Captain Yami really was nice, in a subtle way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys, thanks for sticking with me through my first Black Clover fic. Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear it. I keep laughing at it myself, which means it was worth the writing. Love this show.


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